Machine for weighing traveling loads



(No Model.)

A. R BROWN.

MAGHINE FOR WEIGHING TRAVELING LOADS. No. 399,488. Patented Mar. 12,1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ALEXANDER E. BRDIVN, OF CLEVELAND, ()liIO.

MACHlNE FOR VVElGl-HNG TRAVELEN SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 399,488, dated March 12, 1889.

Application filed March 5; 1887. Serial No. 229,808. No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may con/00771,.-

lle it known that I, ALEXANDER E. BROWN, of Cleveland, in the county ofuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in \Yeighlug-Machines; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to certain new and i useful improvements inmachinery or apparatus for weighing materials or loads, and especiallyadapted to the weighing and regis- 1 tering or recording of the weightsof loaded trucks, buckets, or other receptacles during their passageover any sort of tramway or railway, and without nece. :arily eitherstop ping or retarding the motion of said travel ing loads for thepurpose of obtaining and registering their weights.

In another application filed simultaneousl with this (Serial No.229,807) I have set up certain generic claims on the machine orapparatus herein shown and described, which machine is also shown anddescribed in United States Letters Patent granted to me August 9, 1887,No. 368,063, in which is claimed, broadly, the new method ofascertaining weights, which is accomplished by such a machine orapparatus. In this case the improvements sought to be covered consist incertain specific combinations of devices, which will be foundhereinafter fully described, and which will be more specifically pointedout and defined in the claims of this specification. Any and all genericfeatures of improvement or invention in said machine which may form thesubjects-matter of claims in my other application (N0.220,80T) aredisclaimed as forming any part of the sub ject-matter of inven tionsought to be covered in this application.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my present invention relatesto make and use a machine according to my first invention, 1 will nowproceed to more fully describe my improved apparatus or contrivance,referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form a part ofthis specification,and inwhich I have shown my invention carried out inthat form in which I have practically and successfully used it, andwhich is about the best form now known to me.

elevation of one of my improved machines.

such as I have made and used in connection with a rigid tramway hoisting and conveying machine. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. Fig. 3 isan end view, and Fig. 4 a partial vertical cross-section at line .r .rof Fig. 1.

In the several figures the same parts will be found designated by thesame letters of reference.

A A are the track-beams or elevated tramway in connection with which Ihave practiced my present invention. At suitable distances apart on saidtramway are erected and securely supported two metallic arches, 13 B,and also an intermediate arch, t, and at the locality between the archesI5 I; the inner upper edges of the trackbean1s A are chamfered off, asmost clearly seen by reference to Fig. 3.

I) is a cage-like weiglring-platform, composed, as shown, of a scriesoimetallic arches connected together by longitudinal bracebars, (the wholebeing suitably cross-braced to give the cage rigidity.) and the lowerinner ends of the arch-like pieces have securely fastened to themangle-irons u, (see Fig. 23,) which form a continuation of the interruned track-irons of the-tramway. 'lhese trackirons n are adapted toreceive and support the wheels 0 O of the conveying-machines (shown atll) whenever the same may travel or pass from the track (1 a of thetramway onto and over the track n n of the platform or cage D.

At Fig. 3 the wheels of the machine are shown as traveling upon thetrack-irons of the plat form I). This track-platform is suspended atfour points, and near each end by suspension-loops s, which are hungupon hooks that are suspended at their eyes upon the knifeedged supportso of two levers or scale-beams, E, that are in turn hung uponknife-edges at their outer ends, and which are supported at theiradjacent and inner ends upon similar knife-edged supports in a manner tobe pres ently explained. These levers or scale-beams E are eachsupported at the outer end upon knifeedged bearings c, which rest andbear in loops that are hooked into fixed suspended rods p, that dependfrom the tops of the metallic arches ll, all as best seen by referenceto Fig. l. The inner and adjacent ends of u, said scale-beams E aresupported by knifeedges 6 and 6 which have their bearings in the eyes ofthe loop or link f, the upper end of which is hooked into a pivotedlink, g, that in turn rests upon a knife-edge, i, (see Fig. l,)

which is permanently secured to the middle part of the lower arm, (7,one end of which is suspended by an articulation at 72 from the TO topof the metallic frame 0, and the other end of which is connected with ahook, on, to a loop which passes over the knifeedged bearing of thescale-beam G. This scale-beam G is pivoted at 7t bya knife-edged bearingin the upper end of a stand, Z, which is securely bolted to and projectsa short distance above .-the middle arch or metallic frame 0, andbetween this pivotal connection 7s and the end of the longer arm of thescale-beam G said scale-beam is pivoted by the knifeedged bearing 10 toa loop or link, which is hooked to the upper end of a strong spiralspring, I,

the lower end of which is anchored to a fixed part of the frame-work ofthe apparatus.

M is an indicator or register wheel, which is mounted to turn freelywith or upon a vertical shaft, P, having a suitable step-bearing at itslower end, and an upper bearing provided in the end of an angle iron orbracket, 0 Q, the vertical leg of which is securely bolted to one of themetallic arches B. This drum is rotated continuously with a uniformmotion by any suitable means, preferably by clock mechanism, such asshown at S, through the medium of a driving ban d or cord, '1,which,

after having passed partially around the periphery of said drum M andthence over an idler at r, is provided at its lower end with a weight,a. This drum is designed to carry 40 on its periphery an indicator-cardor slip of paper, upon which are to be recorded, in a mann r te'bepresently explained, the lines which 'ffndicate and register the weightor weights of the load which may be placed upon the platform D, or whichmay travel over the same, and also the standard line or lines, bycomparison of which, according to my system, the record of the load orloads weighed is to be ascertained.

The outer end of the scale-beam G is connected by a suitable rod orpiston, as shown at Fig. l, with a dash-pot at L, designed to operate,preferably, with atmospheric air.

q is a vertical guide bar or way, against the inner face of whicht'avels an anti-friction roller, a, that is mounted to turn freely on astud secured in a stand that projects laterally from the outer side orface of the scale-beam G, near its outer end, for a purpose to bepresently explained. I

r is a marker device or pencil suitably mounted near the end of beam Gat a point about coincident with a radius of the wheel l\lth at is, atright angles to the vertical plane in which the beam G lies.

In the working or operation of the machine so far described the passageover the suspended platform D of any weight or load causes said platformto be slightly depressed, and in its descent it pulls upon the pivotedlevers E E through the media of the connecting links or loops 5 and theknife-edged pivots (I, causing the inner and adjacent ends of saidlevers E to pull down through the'media of the knife-edged pivots e and6 upon the linkf, which in turn exerts a downward pull, through itsconnection at g, on the knifeedged pivot i of the cross-lever (7.Thislever (I, being articulated, as before described, at one end, iscaused to slightly descend at its other end, thus pullingdownwardly,through the media of the bar 721 and knife-edged pivot j, theshorter end of the scalebeam g, thus causing the outer or longer end ofsaid scalebeam to ascend, and in this upward move ment of the outer endof said scale-beam the pencil or marker device r is caused to draw in anearly-vertical direction a line ormark upon the periphery orindicator-card of the drum M. As this drum revolves continuously, theline d awn will be slightly oblique, and when the load shall have beenremoved from or shall have passed entirely over the platform D theresumption by all the parts of their original positions will. cause themarking device to draw a slightly-oblique descending line, the loop endof which will of course be at the same level as that in which the linefirst made began. As the marker device or pencil 7' remains continuouslyin contact by suitable springpressuie with the periphery of the drum Mor the paper placed thereon, said pencil will of course continue to markin a horizontal direction. on the drum-paper until the mechanism may beagain operated by another load applied to or passing over the platformD.

During the operation just described the scale-beam G, when operated bythe weight of a load on the platform I), is moved against the pullingtendency or resistance of the powerful coil-spring I, and it is thisspring which acts as a motor when the platform shall have been relievedof its load to bring all the parts back to their original. positions.

As in suddenly causing a loaded car or truck to pass over the platformthere is exerted a great tendency to effect a sudden jarring andvibration of all the parts, which would naturally tend to obstruct aneven movement of the marking device, and which might operate to throwthe long end of the scale-beam either above or below the exact limits towhich the dead-weight of the load should cause it to move, I havecombined, as already described, with the outer end of the scale-beam G adash-pot, L, the function and effect of which is to prevent any suddenvibration of the long end of the scale-beam G without preventing saidend from moving in either direction to the fullest extent to which theweight on and the releasement of the weight from the platform shouldmove the scale-beam for the purpose of making a true load passing overthe platform.

To avoid any possible vibration of the long end of the scale-beamlaterally that might operate to or iujuriously affect the perfectworking of the spring-pencil or elastic marking device, I have provideda vertical guide or bar, q, and the small antifriction roller .0,mounted on one side of the scale-beam G, as shown and described, thefunction and effect of which devices are to cause the anti-frictionroller to bear, with little or no impediment to the motion of thescale-beam, against the inner face of the vertical bar (1, and to steadyand hold the scale-beam laterally during its upward and downwardmovements.

It will be observed that the knife-edges or pivotal points of each oneof the levers E, as well as those of the scale-beam G, are placedexactly in a right line, and this is an important and indispensablefeature in the construction of my machine, although directly opposite tothe principle of construction necessarily and properly involved inscales or weighing contrivauces in which the operation involves thebalancing of some lover or beam in the operation of measuring theweight. In my machine, as there is no bringing to an equilibrium of anyof the parts, but the registering operation, in order to be correctlydone, must be effected by the action of vibrating parts, in which theleverage must remain exactly the same during their movements, thisarrangement of the pivotal points exactly in line is of the utmostimportance.

In the practical use of my machine so far for the purposes for which Ihave employed iii-namely, for ascertaining the separate and collectiveweights of a series of loaded trucks or cars passing over a bridge ortramway and of the empty returning ears, (in order to ascertain theaggregate weight of material delivered over the tramway within a giventime) 1 have adopted a system of depressing the platformperiodically-say at morning, noon, and evening of each day-by thepassage over it of what 1 call a standard weight "-that is, a load ofaccurately-ascertained gravityand then, by a comparison of the marksregistered by the action on the platform of all the loaded and emptycars passing over during the day with one of the marks made by thepassage of the standard weight, (or with an average as to the lengths ofsaid three marks,provided any variation between them appeanl l haveascerregistration of the amount of gravity of the tained the exactweights of the aggregate gross loads passing over the platform, and alsoi the aggregate of the tare loads returning, a subtraetion'of one fromthe other of which, of l course, shows accurately the amount of materialthat may have been delivered over the platform within a given time.

It is important that the extent of depression of the platform D evenunder the heaviest l loads shall be comparatively slight, in order thatthe track-iron m of said platform shall never descend below the level ofthe tracks a proportion of leverage of the tramway sufliciently toproduce any serious impediment to the running of the wheels of the truckor car from the depressed plat-form off onto the tramway. l havetherefore arranged the system of levers in such and have made thespringl of such strength that an exceedingly slight depression of theplatform will occur under any weight that mayhave to pass over it, whileat the same time a snflicient extent of motion up and down will be givento the marker or pencil to record lines of snflicient length to beeasily measured.

In order to avoid an unnecessaryscope of movement in the scale-bez'unand other parts of the contrivance by having the machine adapted toindicate weights om zero up, I have adapted the resistant spring I tohave its power or tension adjusted or regulated by turning anadjusting-nut, as seen at Fig. 1, so that it maybe set to record agivenmaximum weight, say of two thousand pounds, more or less,(according to the minimum weight of any empty truck or car which mayhave to be used in connection with the weighing contrivance,) and thus Iam enabled, it will be seen, to have the marking device start only atsuch a point above zero as may benecessary for weighing any loads thegravity of which it may be desired to measure. Of course the standardweight passed over periodically, as hereinbefore mentioned, will be anygiven numbcrof pounds greater than the weight at which the machine beginto measure.

It will be seen that in the use of a contrivancesuch as herein shown anddescribed for the purposes of weighing and recording the weights ofloads periodically traveling over the weighing-platform no time or laboris nec essary, nor is the attendance of any operative required inorder-to secure an accurate measurement and record of all the work doneduring a day or other given. period of time.

It will be understood that in arriving at the aggregates of the loadedreceptacles passing over and the empty ones returning by the simpleaddition of the several lines marked for each kind of load, and thesubsc quent measurement or ascertainment of the value of the entire linerepresenting each kind, any slight mistake in measurement orascertainment of the value of either or both of such entire lines can bemade but once, whereas in any system of weighing and machine thereforein which the several items have to be measured or ascertainedseparately, and the aggregate obtained by an addition of the items, themistakes of ascertainment may be of course as numerous as the itemsmeasured. This, then, leads to a great advantage in favor of my improvedmachine over any other heretofore made gous purpose. By the use of auniformlyrevolving drum or indicz'itor-card on which is adjusted to themarks are made and a suitable mechanism for timing the movements orrotations of for an alo ITO *tent of movement the drum, or by laying offthe indicator-Cami into hours and minutes to correspond with the time, Iam enabled to read from the recorded in: ks not only the measures of theweights of all the loads that passed over the platform, but also theexact times at which each and all of the loaded as well as the emptyreceptacles n'iade their passage. This is quite important in the s1ecial connection in which I have shown my machine in this case, ethereby the superintendent or manag r is enabled at the end of the dayto understand exactly the regularity with which or the order in whichthe work of the day I may have been done by the operatives. By the samemeans he is enabled, also, to tell whether the standard weight waspassed over the scale-platform at the proper times for the i purpose ofptmiodically registering the standl ard lines for measurement on theindicator- I card.

Having now so fully explained the novel i features of construction andmode of operai tion of my improved machine and stated its l mainadvantages, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is l 1. The combination, with the traclccanis of a railway, of theslightly-deprossiblc plat form suspended within asuitable frame-work sn'iported by said track-beams, and provided with rails which formcontinuations of those I secured to said track-beams, a sys tem of le- Jvers from which said depressible platform is suspended, and which issustained by said I 'ramenvorli, and means for registering the ex- 1 ofthe longer arm of the I final lever of said system, all substantially asand for the purpose set iorth.

2. In combination withthedepressible plati form I), a system of leversfrom which it is l justable resistant spring suspended, and a scale-beamprovided with a suitable resistant for indicating the extent of movementof said platform, a uniformly-rotated drum or wheel, M, (moved by anysuitable mechanism within or without said drum,) and a marking device onthe scalebeam to register the movements of the latter on the face ofsaid drum, whereby I am enabled to not only register themeasurementqnarks of all weights passed over the platform D, but am alsoenabled to ascertain the exacttimes at which said loads or any of themmay have made their passage over the weighing apparatus.

3. In combination with the tran'iway and the depressible platformsuspended within a frame-work supported on said tramway, the system oflevers, including the scalehcam G, supported by said frame -work, andfrom which said platform is suspended, and the ad I, adapted to have itstension regulated so that the machine will not begin to operate underany less load than the minimum weight of the loads to be carried overthe tramway, all substantially as hereinbefore explained.

1 In combination with the scale-beam G, the registering-drum Ill, and asuitable marker device applied to the scale-beam, a guide or keeper bar,,7, and a suitable anti-friction roller mounted on the scale-beam andtraveling against the face of said keeper-bar, in substantially themanner and for the purpose hereinbet'ore explained.

in witness whereof I have hereunto hand this 31st day of August, 1886.

ALEXANDER 1E. BROWN. presence of- E. T. SoovILL, tnas. W. KELLY.

set my

